Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The smartest thing I did
today was file a flight plan.As for
the rest of the day, I should have stayed home and acted my age, because
whatever Brownie points I earned for the flight plan were far offset by all the
stupid things I did today.

BUT!Had I done that—stayed home and acted 75—I would have missed out on a very pleasant adventure.

What started it was a photo
some friends posted on Facebook.It
showed the family, all decked out in winter clothing and holding hiking poles,
as they were hiking on Victor Creek.Yes, “on” is the correct preposition, as I will explain.

Victor Creek is the Moose
Pass version of Antelope and other slot canyons in northern Arizona and
southern Utah.But those canyons don’t
have creeks running through them, unless there had been recent rain on Salt
Lake City or another upland place, in which case all that rain becomes torrents
rushing through those slot canyons with the power of those water cannons used
in hydraulic mining, and woe unto whomever is in one of those canyons because
they shall perish from the earth.

Not to worry about Victor
Creek.The creek runs year-‘round.The Forest Service has built a nice hiking trail
that parallels the serpentine bed of the creek.But that’s for summer, for hiking or fishing
or even some prospecting.

During the winter, especially
after a cold spell like the one that just ended, Victor Creek itself comes into
its own.So, when I saw that photo of
my hiking friends, I decided to hike up Victor Creek.I knew almost nothing about it, except that
there were supposed to be some good photo ops.

I didn’t know where to park,
where to start, or much of anything else, so this would be a journey of
discovery.I donned my jeans, hiking
boots, and a fleece jacket and set off down the road with only a
point and shoot camera.Three miles
from home, I realized I had forgotten to take my ice cleats and hiking
stick.I also figured I might not be
dressed warmly enough, though the temperature was a nice balmy 27 degrees.

Victor Creek, as seen from the highway bridge.

So, I went home, put on a
lightweight fleece shirt and a pair of North Face fleece snow pants, and hit
the road.Along the way, I thought
about a friend who had tripped over his shoelaces in the Dubai airport and
broke his hip recently. It took him several days to get back to the US, and a nother few days before surgery.

I considered taking
my cell phone with me, but I didn’t know where it was exactly and I also
doubted there would be cell service in the creek.No problem, because I forgot to take the
cell anyway.

Instead, I stopped at a
friend’s and filed my flight plan, letting her know where I was going, that I
was alone, and that I’d let her know when I returned.Then I found a spot to park near where the
creek flowed under the Seward highway, looked for footprints along the creek
and saw none, so I started walking up the Forest Service trail.

My hiking stick gave me
fits.It would not lock into
place.My fleece gloves have a
light-weight liner and as my hands started sweating, the liner would pull out
when I withdrew my hands, thus making the gloves a bother putting back on.

I found the spot where people
had dropped down the bank onto the creek, and took a nice photo.Then, thinking I could frame it better, I
started to take another.I got a “no
memory” message from the camera, and I quickly realized that the extra battery
and SD cards I usually carry in the truck were at home in my camera bag.

My first photo after dropping down to the creek. After that, no memory left on the SD card.

A prospector's shelter.

Well, I’d check this out and
go back tomorrow, I thought.And off I
went, walking on ice shelves hanging over the flowing water underneath.The farther I went upstream, the deeper the
canyon became and the more fantastic the ice falls were.

The path went through this beautiful ice column.

Standing in the small opening next to the ice column.

I reached a spot where those
who had gone before me had longer legs than me and I knew I couldn’t step up
that high (on ice), so I crossed to the other side and made my way along a
narrow shelf against an ice fall.

The dark area in upper left is a large rock overhang.

The big lump of blue ice on the left is where I tiptoed past this spot. The others went up and over the lump at right.

On and on I went, thoroughly
enjoying myself.I deleted a bunch of
photos on the SD card and made room for new photos.In doing this, I managed to fog up my
glasses, and get my fingers cold and sweaty at the same time.Once I got the right glove back on and the
finger liners back in the fingers, I didn’t want to take the glove off again to
take photos.Note to self:It is
impossible to take a photo while wearing thick gloves.

You can see the narrow path through the center of this slot. That gives a size perspective.

At length, I reached a large
area of boulders.Once again, the path
climbed a high boulder.I crossed the
creek again and found a way through a maze of boulders where the creek thundered
under the ice. I picked my way through
Volkswagen-and-Hummer-sized boulders, until I realized that the tracks I was
following were canine.Whether dog or
coyote, I have no idea.

Ahead, the canyon got steeper
and I couldn’t see a way through so I turned back.And fell in.And somewhere along the line, I tripped and
fell onto my hands and knees, somehow bumping my thigh against something hard
and un-giving.

Caught a drop of water falling from the icicle.

The boulder field.

Almost the end of the trail. I crossed under that log sticking up and picked my way around the next boulder, but that's as far as I could go.

It's hard to judge, but that earth-colored ice fall must be 50 to 70 feet long.

A spot I’d just traversed
failed and one foot went through the ice into shin-high water.I realized another dumb thing I’d done:I’d worn cotton socks instead of wool which
keep your feet warm even if wet.

By this time, I was very,
very warm.And sweating.My glasses were hopeless so I put them in my
pocket.My wet foot never did get cold,
so I lucked out there.

Eventually, I made it back to
the trail head and drove home, where I called my friend and closed my flight
pan.That left me free to go over my
photos and contemplate just how big that aching bruise on my thigh is going to
get.

Monday, December 12, 2016

I've been busy with a project that is taking many, many hours on the computer and when I get tired of working on it,I certainly don't feel like writing new posts here.

So, I'll let the camera do the talking:

Ten below zero and the little birds look like golf balls with tails.

This common merganser just surfaced into the cold air. See the water sheeting off its head?

I shot this American dipper through mist rising off the water, so the photos aren't clear.

The dipper caught a fish and is slamming it against the rocks, apparently trying to separate a chunk small enough to swallow. You will see the moment when it looks like it's wishing it had teeth or opposable thumbs.

Once it swallowed the head, it left behind the rest of the fish.

Lots of "noise" from low light and mist.

This dipper was jumping off this ice into the creek to look for underwater food.